425 Fifth Avenue
Designed by PostModern titan Michael Graves and developed by RFR Davis, 425 Fifth Avenue was completed in 2003. When illuminated at night, 425 Fifth Avenue is a well-mannered addition to the skyline; by day the unusual yellow and blue cladding offsets the rather perfunctory detailing and dull brickwork. The 56-story building is the 73rd tallest… Continue reading
420 Fifth Avenue
420 Fifth Avenue has the misfortune to stand at an intersection across from three of the avenue’s best and most unusual buildings. For all that, this 1989 design by Brennan Beer Gorman is a competent essay in the Dallas High PostModern vein, featuring carefully modulated setbacks and lavish marble facing. A small public plaza on… Continue reading
417 Fifth Avenue
The former location of Bonwitt Teller, 417 Fifth Avenue was built 1911. The original Beaux Arts shopfronts, removed from the Fifth Avenue facade, survive on the side streets.
411 Fifth Avenue
Having graced the avenue with the singular Louis Sullivan-meets-Barry Lyndon design at 404 Fifth Avenue, Warren & Wetmore pulled out similar stops for 411 Fifth Avenue, one of the city’s most ebullient and bizarre structures. Finished in 1915, a classic Chicago School building is frosted with lavish terra cotta cartouches, busts, floral ornament and relief… Continue reading
404 Fifth Avenue, The Stewart Building
404 Fifth Avenue is a wonderful amalgam of the Chicago School with 18th Century English taste. Also known as the Stewart Building, this beautifully crisp Sullivan-style skyscraper is finished in terra cotta ornament that recalls the blue-and-white “jasper-work” of Josiah Wedgwood, here reproduced with an extravagant surety that renders the classical motifs newly abstract. Warren & Wetmore,… Continue reading